The third time was the charm for Lakewood soccer, as the Cougars finally defeated conference archnemesis Cedarcrest, 1-0, to win the district championship May 10.

But what will the fourth time hold?

The state soccer tournament bracket begs the question, as Lakewood and Cedarcrest face a possible second-round match-up, assuming they emerge from first-round wins over Mark Morris High School and Centralia High School, respectively. (The games took place May 13 after The Globe went to press.)

After falling to Cedarcrest in both regular season meetings, Lakewood finally got the best of the one team they hadn’t beaten when they topped the Red Wolves in the district championship game at Mount Vernon High School. Lakewood defeated squads from Lynden and Sultan for the right to play in the game, with all three wins decided by one-goal margins.

Everyone was healthy, and Lakewood midfielder Joseph Hawkins scored the game’s lone goal in the 76th minute.

“We played a really good game against them the other night. I think the guys know how to plan now. I think we feel pretty confident as far as they beat us the first two times and we came back in the playoffs and beat them,” Lakewood coach Vaughn Vandelac said, adding that of all his team’s district titles, “I don’t know why, but I think this one really cheered me up more than the other four.”

So if the third time’s the charm, what would a potential fourth meeting with Cedarcrest hold in store?

“Evander (Ochoa), my forward, he hadn’t made a PK ever until this year,” said Vandelac. “So I told him last year, hey, the year we make your penalty kick, we win state. He got the monkey off his back and broke that streak.”

Lakewood hosted Mark Morris May 13. The complete state bracket is available on the WIAA web site at www.wiaa.com/athletics/soccer/.